Element, delivered
by theBessforLast
Summary: At times Tony thought that it would be best if he just destroyed all evidence of the new element, including his new core.  After all, his death would be a small price to pay for keeping the world safe from those who would use the new element for evil.


Disclaimer – The usual. Yada, yada, yada…

_SMACK_

Tony's head slipped off the side of his hand and slammed into the workstation he was sitting at.

"Wha? Ouch!" Tony lurched upright and groaned. He reached for his cup of coffee only to find it empty.

It had been several weeks since the incident at the Stark Expo. Between interviews, press conferences, S.H.I.E.L.D debriefings, and government interrogations Tony was exhausted. And no amount of coffee was going to keep him awake.

Tony had been spending endless hours exploring the properties of the new element that his father had discovered and that he had perfected. Its potential was limitless, as well as dangerous. Too dangerous. At times Tony thought that it would be best if he just destroyed all evidence of it, including his new core. After all, his death would be a small price to pay for keeping the world safe from those who would use the new element for evil. There was only one thing stopping him. Pepper. She meant everything to him. Granted, destroying the element would insure her safety as well, but as it turned out he was too selfish. He couldn't die now. Now that she knew how much he loved her. How much he had always loved her. He wouldn't lose her by losing himself.

He didn't turn around when he heard the keypad beeping and the door unlocking with a click. He new it was Pepper. True, she wasn't his personal assistant anymore but she was basically a permanent fixture in the mansion anyways.

"Huh." Tony snorted as she made her way towards him. "I never thought about it Pep, do you even have an apartment?"

Pepper stopped before she got to the workstation, a confused look on her face.

"Of course I have an apartment. It's downtown and you pay for it." She cocked her head a bit and started forward again.

"Get rid of it." Tony didn't see why he should pay for an apartment if she never even used it.

"Are you asking me to move in with you?" Pepper smiled. Tony hadn't thought this through and she was going to have some fun with it.

"I, uh. No… Well." Tony stuttered, then collected himself. "I'm asking you to un-quit your job."

Pepper knew this would happen. She smiled at his request and then posed a question of her own.

"Natalie isn't working out?" Pepper almost felt sorry for Tony. The look on his face was close to pure anguish.

"No. She's horrible, completely blank. She's S.H.I.E.L.D. On top of all that she's not you." He was practically whimpering.

"I thought you needed her." Pepper was enjoying this.

"That was before all of this," Tony gestured airily above his head alluding to recent events. He hesitated then said,

"Pepper you know I only need one person to keep me in line. It's you and it always will be."

Pepper couldn't help but blush.

"There's no one I like bossing me around better." Tony added.

"I'll think about it." That meant no, but Tony didn't have to know that.

"That means no." Tony smirked at her startled look. "C'mon Pep, give me a little credit, I have paid some attention over the last decade. At least enough to know that "I'll think about it" means no. I'll just have to find some way to convince you to change your mind."

Pepper raised an eyebrow. Speaking of change, time to change the subject.

"What is that?" She nodded towards the holographic image that Tony was manipulating. "Is that what's kept you down here for days?"

"Starkoline." Tony turned back to his exploded view of the element. Pepper furrowed her brow; it was all Greek to her.

"Starkoline? What is…?" Tony cut her off.

"Yea, like the battery, Alkoline. C'mon Pep, it's a clever play on words… and it has to have a name. If you can think of something better" Tony looked up from his work with a somewhat hopeful look.

"Well, why not name it after me? How about Pottonium?" Pepper's look of pride in herself quickly changed to confusion when Tony burst out laughing. 

"Pepper," Tony had stopped laughing, for the most part. "The element was created in a lab, not a hotbox.

"I didn't mean… that's not, well…" She narrowed her eyes and stamped one heel as Tony started laughing again.

"Why don't we name it Pepperonium?" He managed to choke out between laughs. "We could open a pizza place and I could deliver the pizzas as Iron Man. Our sales pitch could be "Delivered with a sonic boom or your pizza's on us."

"Very funny" Pepper was trying desperately to keep from laughing. It wasn't working. She set the cup of coffee down on his desk. That was the real reason she'd ventured into the lab anyways.

"Will that be all Mr. Stark?" Pepper's eyes widened with the realization of what she'd said.

"That doesn't mean…" She blurted out. Too late. Tony was grinning; he took a drink of coffee and stood up.

"I accept your re-application Ms. Potts."

_fin._


End file.
